A new song
by AlwaysFantasyNeverReality
Summary: This is Ara Sonnet. This was her life. This is her future. This is a new song.


Ara Sonnet escapes, along with her mother, from an emotionally and physically abusive father. After returning to Serena's birthplace, England, Ara can finally begin to live her life, and what a life it is! This is her story. This is a new song.

Chapter 1

"Mum?" I whispered anxiously as people snored loudly on the plane that would take me far from my birthplace but closer to home than I had ever been before. "You promise he wont find us?"

I was terrified my father would track us down like so many times before. He was abusive, both physically and mentally to my mother and to me. No matter how far we had travelled he had always reappeared. New Zealand was a beautiful place and for many years it had been the only country I had known. We had travelled across the whole of the north island in an attempt to finally be free. From my birthplace, Taupo, to Matamata, to Coramandel, to Auckland. He had always followed.

"Yes sweetheart, I promise." She vowed. We were so close and I could never accept that it would be safer for me if I left her alone. She had spent the first year of our 'free' life trying to convince me to fly to England to live with her parents but I would not leave her to the mercy of that monster.

We had reached Singapore three hours ago and had caught another flight that would take us to London. I hoped with all my heart that England would provide the refuge we knew we needed. My mother was English, from London coincidentally, so we had no need for visas, according to the immigration committee. A half English kid with an English mum was technically both Kiwi and British. At least that was in our favour.

I had not slept in the seventeen hours since we had caught the flight from Auckland and I was exhausted. We still had a long way to go before we were safe but there was nothing we could do but wait, for now. Grasping hands in a tender gesture of love and loyalty we gradually drifted off to sleep.

~timecut~

I woke to the telltale turbulence of landing and was surprised I had slept so long. The blind on the window was open and I could see the dull grey light of dawn but little else. My mother's head was turned away from me, towards the window, but I could sense that she was gazing lovingly at the home she had missed, the only home she had ever known. Home… What was it like? The only home I had was my mother. I had come to need nothing but her. She was a safe harbour. My only friend, my only home, my only family.

I yawned and stretched out my aching legs. Hearing this, my mother turned around and smiled. The happiness was so evident on her face. It took me aback for I had not seen her happy for so long. She was always stressed, always worried.

She gestured out the widow and I looked closer, leaning slightly so I could see past her. There, I caught my first glimpse of Britain. Other people were waking up and looking through the windows. Everyone but my mother was groaning and complaining. Apparently it looked grim, gloomy and depressing. I looked for all these things but saw none. I saw them all in New Zealand but from a mere glance of England I saw freedom, hope and, above all, a place where we could be happy. I felt liberated.

I began bouncing in my seat. Not because of the constant shaking of the plane. Because I was excited. For the first time in my life I was looking forward to something. I could see a bright future.

My mother and me shared a smile, not much from the outside, but that smile showed everything we were feeling. Oh, how wonderful and fresh and _new_!

"Ara, look! This is it! I missed it so much. You could even go to school here, make friends. We can do anything we want!" She laughed, not out of humour but of sheer relief and happiness.

I beamed at the prospect. I was clever I wont deny it. I studied every free minute I had. Mum never let my learning suffer even in the hardest of times. She said that it was important to know things and be good at things. I always agreed. I knew more in most subjects than a lot of adults did but I never assumed that I was better than anybody else. In fact, I suffered from a severe inferiority complex.

I loved to write. I wrote anything; songs, poetry, stories, but I got most pleasure form writing songs and poems. I sang too. My songs were almost always sad, about things we had been through and the relationship we had as a consequence. Sometimes the most terrible things could inspire the most beautiful things. That's what mum always said.

I closed my eyes until we landed and thought of the things that could happen when we got settled. I didn't imagine the half of it!

~timecut~

"Serena!" a shocked yet ecstatic woman exclaimed as she opened the door. This was my grandmother. She had no knowledge of what had happened since my mother left for New Zealand after marrying _Daddy. _I am so glad my mother kept her own name and insisted that I did too. To be named for that man would be a constant thorn in my side.

"Mama, I missed you. May we stay with you for a few days? Please? Only until we get a place of out own of course. It's a long story." Serena smiled weakly and my grandmother stepped aside, asking no questions although admittedly glancing at me curiously. Of course, my grandparents weren't even aware that I existed. My mother had become isolated from the moment she married my father.

Grimacing at me, mother launched into the tale of the last eleven years. She explained, with very little actual detail, the emotional and physical abuse we had endured. She explained that, two years prior to our appearance at the doorstep, she had realized that it was one thing to suffer silently through the abuse but to allow her child to be treated in the same way made her equally wrong. I wholeheartedly disagreed with her on this but she would not relent. She ended her story with a simple: "We ran. He followed."

I shuddered as my mother told the story although I already knew it all. My grandparents received this with silent outrage. They could say nothing. They only embraced us lovingly. What more could they do? They took us in for as long as we needed. This wasn't long as Mother quickly found a job and a simple but wonderful house. This was only the beginning.

_**Thanks for reading.**_

_**x**_


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